Op-Ed: BSL supporter defends Sahar Biniaz’s stance against pit bulls

Is it “pit bull lobby” or “breedist mafia” that poses danger to the public? Now is the time to raise a voice against breed-specific legislation (BSL), which is generally known as “bull shit law” among advocates of breed-neutral legislation.

The petition demanding stripping Miss Universe Canada 2012, Sahar Biniaz, of her crown has been signed by nearly 6000 people and the topic got into a short discussion at The Young Turks (TYT) Network. Meanwhile, supporters of Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) that bans pit bulls categorically as dangerous dogs have started blogging in defense of Miss Biniaz. One BSL supporter, writing at the National Post, has even gone to the extent of calling pit bulls and its mix breeds a “serious public health issue”. The writer of the post claims that a pit bull kills somebody in North America every two to three weeks. She also claims that at least one North American is mauled, maimed, or dismembered by pit bulls every day. However, she conveniently ignores to back her claims by providing links to the studies or surveys that find these terrifying statistics about pit bulls in North America.

To prove that pit bulls are a fierce threat to people’s safety, the writer refers to a sensationalist story of a pit bull attack in Calgary in which a dog owner tells that could not make an attacking pit bull leave his dog even when he used a fence post to beat the pit bull . Clearly, the writer is as ignorant as the owner of that dog in believing that beating a dog is the way to make him loosen his grip or leave its object of attack. Those who know about dog behavior, and these include teenage kids also, know that you pull the hind legs of a dog that has got into a scuffle with another dog to separate the two. Hurting a dog by beating it or kicking etc can make things worse. But of course, ignorance thrives on assumptions and BSL supporters make a classic example of it.

Now the writer of the said post does not confine her bombastic attack of words to pit bulls. She uses the term “pit bull advocacy movement” (PBAM) to collectively refer to supporters of pit bulls whom she calls “pit bull lobby” in the title of her article. According to her, PBAM is a “powerful lobby group” that runs “extremely well-funded propaganda campaign”. Perhaps the writer doesn’t know how much struggle and fund-raising by constant request for funding go into saving an innocent pit bull’s life from a high-kill shelter when that dog is seized by the animal control for an accident or quite often even for something they never did. These victims of BSL literally beg for every cent to save their canine family member from being killed. What makes the writer thinks pit bull supporters are “extremely well-funded”? It is no less easy for her to prove this than the claim – if made – that she receives funding from BSL supporters to write such propaganda.

As if that is not enough, the writer in question goes on to say, “All other groups exist to promote the proven virtues of their beloved breed. Only the PBAM exists to promote denial of their beloved breed’s proven vices.” To this baseless claim, one simply needs to ask her to wake up, open her eyes and senses, and see how pit bull lovers post stories, pictures and videos of their beloved pets all over the social media. But maybe she can’t see these and the reason is obvious: she doesn’t want to, or is afraid of it because the life-saving work of pit bulls for their human families will shatter her web of propaganda in a snap of disillusionment.

It is clear that when this writer, as well as BSL supporter, writes in her article in support of Miss Biniaz that “reason is on her side,” she actually means the “breedist mafia” is on her side. And when “reason” to her like-minded means “breedism”, there is no word to describe the level of unreason that goes into writing such propaganda.

It doesn’t matter whether Biniaz keeps or loses her crown, but her position and that of her supporters on the pit bulls issue is clearly wrong. All dogs, as well as humans, have their good and bad sides. Does breedist mafia know that 30 percent of child sexual abuse is committed by a family member and only 10 percent of abusers are strangers? By the line of reasoning the breedists adopt, then, family members should be banned in the country because statistics show that children are safer with strangers. But will Miss Biniaz or her breedist supporters advocate such a ban? No? And why not? Because people have a voice. They resist prejudiced laws and don’t let such laws ruin their lives simply because somebody of their appearance and genetic makeup ruined a family member’s life in the same state or province or country.

Pit bulls on the other hand are the victim of discriminatory laws because these loving life forms are voiceless. But the breedist mafia must remember that now these victims of BSL, which is today’s nazism, do have a voice—that is their supporters. Victories for pit bull supporters are already arriving and as long as this reckless victimization of pit bulls is not eliminated, pit bull advocates will continue to struggle for justice and tolerance no matter how many beauty queens or breedist writers attempt to influence public opinion against the BSL victims.

This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com